Dong Xiaowan (1623—1651 AD) was one of the eight well-known singsong girls in the Qinhuai river area, i.e., Nanking city and its vicinity. She was born in an embroidery family in Suzhou city. Dong family was famous for its embroidery. They had a workshop to make and sell products of embroidery. This trade had lasted for more than two hundred years till her time. Her father was a scholar and so she had good education. When she was thirteen, her father died of diarrhea. She and her mother would not continue to live in this old house, because there were too many things to remind them of the diseased. Therefore, they had another house built at a riverside and moved to live there like a recluse. They entrusted the family business to some old employee to manage.
Then chaos arose with the aggression of the Manchurian. When she and mother went to their workshop with the intention to sell it, they found that it was already bankrupt. They were penniless now. And her mother was seriously sick. She needed money to pay doctors and buy drugs. So she had to become a singsong girl in the famous Qinhuai river area. Owing to her great knowledge and ability, she was soon known to those merry-making young men, who flocked to her like bees to the flower. She could sing for them and accompany them on tours. She liked tours with any visitors that she could appreciate the beautiful scenes.
There was a famous learned man by name of Mao Pijiang, who, having heard of her name, came to seek for her several times in her absence as she went out to accompany visitors on tours. Once he came late in the evening and she was already back from tours. They got acquainted with each other. As she already knew the name of the young scholar, they immediately liked each other. But Mao wanted to go back to his home town to take government tests. But he failed. After half a year, he came to seek Dong again.
After the death of her mother, she wanted to marry Mao. Only Mao must redeem her from the whorehouse first. However, as she was so renowned in the area, the bawd would not let her go, no matter how much money Mao would pay. Just at that time, Liu and her husband Qian came to see Mao. As Qian had been an official, through his mediation, the bawd let her go at last. Then they got married. She began to practice calligraphy and continued to paint. Her painting of “Colorful Butterflies” is now stored in the museum of Wuxi city. This painting was painted when she was only fifteen. Their comfortable life lasted only for more than a year. Then Manchurian army came and their valuables were lost when they escaped south.
After chaos, they went back to their homeland, and found that their house still stood. They lost all the valuables and had to live in hardship. Then Mao was taken ill and she had to wait on him hand and foot, day and night. Several months afterwards, Mao was gradually recovered, but she fell sick, severely. There was no curing for her and she died in peace in the first moon of 1651 AD.

Li Xiangjun (1624—1653 AD) was also one of the eight well-known singsong girls in the Qinhuai river area, i.e., Nanking city and its vicinity. She was born in Suzhou city and her father was an officer. She had two elder brothers. When her father died, her family turned out destitute. Therefore, when she was only eight, she was adopted by a bawd. She was trained to sing, to play lute, to write poems and knew music. She had a good voice, but seldom sang, unless the visitor was the one she liked.
When she reached the age of sixteen, she must have her maidenhood done away. She could find a visitor she liked. But the bawd would charge him highly. Then she met a man called Hou Fangyu (1618—1655 AD), a famous scholar at the time. As he did not have so much money to pay the fee, a friend Yuan Dacheng (1587—1646 AD) loaned him the amount. Yuan was a literary man and a dramatist, but he had a low character. He was always ambitious while Hou was not. Afterwards, they quarreled and were no longer friends. It was because Yuan made friends with anyone in hopes that that friend could help him to step up in his official career. However, Hou could not help him there. After their breach, Yuan wanted Hou to pay back the loan. Hou, with the help of the girl, repaid all his debt, by selling her jewels and his borrowing money from other friends and relatives.
There was a little, but important detail I must mention. On the night when Hou did the girl, he gave her a precious gift, which was a round fan of white gauze with an ivory carved frame, which was his family heirloom.
At that time when Manchurian occupied the capital of Ming dynasty, a Ming emperor fled to the south of the Yangtze river and made Ninking city as his temporary capital. Yuan then became a high official in the court of the emperor. As Yuan hated Hou, he wanted to frame Hou, who learned it and escaped to somewhere. And Li Xiangjun shut herself up and never received any visitors. But Yuan told the emperor about the famous girl. So the emperor ordered the girl to be fetched to his presence. The girl could not reject the order of the emperor directly. So she knocked her head against a pillar and her blood splashed on the fan. Another friend of Hou's, who could paint, got the fan and painted, based on the blood specks, some red peach blossoms. Hence, the fan was called Peach Fan.
Yuan, as a dramatist, wrote a drama named Peach Fan. He urged the emperor to send for the girl by force. She had to enter the palace as a singsong girl. In 1644 AD, the Manchurian army approached Nanking city, the emperor ran away further south. The girl stole out of the palace. She did not know where she could go and sat down on a small bridge. Just then a master, who had taught her to sing, came across her by accident on the bridge. As he knew that the girl had nowhere to go, he took her to Suzhou city, where he lived.
At this moment when the girl was on this bridge, Hou, her man, was not far from her. He came back to look for her. But fate made a joke on them. They missed each other. In 1645 AD, the girl Li went to see Bian Yujing (one of eight singsong girls and they knew each other) in her temple and stayed there for a while. In the autumn this year, Hou found her in the temple and took to his hometown, where his parents and his wife lived. In introduction, he concealed her singsong status, just saying that she was his concubine. As she was nice to everyone in the family, she was welcome and treated well. Therefore, from 1645 to 1652 AD, she led a peaceful and comfortable life.
Then her husband took a trip to somewhere. Somehow, unfortunately, her singsong status was found out by the family. Especially her father-in-law was furious and drove her out of the family to live in a bleak village fifteen li (half a kilometer) away. At the time, Li was pregnant. So the mother-in-law and the wife were sympathetic with her and with the ascent of the father-in-law, sent a maid there to look after her. When the husband returned, he took her back to live in the family house. But she was feeling unhappy for the discrimination. After she gave birth to the baby, she was suffering from TB—Tuberculosis, and died at the age of thirty.

Kou Baimen (1624--? AD) was also one of the eight well-known singsong girls in the Qinhuai river area, i.e., Nanking city and its vicinity. She was born in a strange family, who ran the prostitute business. She was demure and beautiful. In the late spring of 1642 AD, at the age of seventeen, she married the powerful Duke Baoguo of Ming dynasty.
In 1645 AD, the Manchurian army overthrew the Ming dynasty and Duke Baoguo surrendered. Not long after, his family was taken to Peking, which was then the capital of Qing dynasty, founded by the Manchurian (1644—1911 AD). The duke was confined. He wanted to sell all his dancers and maids and singsong girls, including Kou, who was his concubine. But a man could sell his concubine in the feudal China. Kou said to him that if he sold her, he would get at most some hundred taels of silver, but if he could let her go, she would go back to the south and make thousands of taels of silver for him. Therefore, he let her go. She went back to Nanking city. She married a scholar in Yangzhou city, but she felt unhappy with the marriage. So she returned to Nanking city again. Then she liked a scholar Han, who liked her at the first sight and supported her. Then she got sick. One day she still wanted to make love with him, though sick, but he would not allow and leave her room. Later she heard some merry noise next room. When she entered the next room, she found that Han was making love to her maid, who was younger, and beautiful, too, only without fame. She was enraged and her sickness got worse. She died soon.

Chen Yuanyuan (1624—1681 AD) was one of the eight well-known singsong girls in the Qinhuai river area, i.e., Nanking city and its vicinity, too. It was round the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD—1644 AD). Emperor Chongzhen was on the throne. When he first became the emperor, he had the ambition to make his empire strong, but he was not a man of talent, and the empire remained weak. In the northeastern China, there was the Mandarin who got stronger and stronger, especially when they united the Mongolians in the west. Now they intended to invade and occupied the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The only blockade to them was the Great Wall. They must enter through Shanhai Pass at the eastern end of the Great Wall. The Ming Dynasty stationed great forces to defend it. But the stupid emperor often changed the commander, which was a disadvantage to the defending army. Supposing when a commander just got familiar with the situation and the move of the enemy, on which he would make his strategy, then he was removed and a new commander came. The new commander must get familiar with everything over again.
First the emperor appointed the famous general Yuan Chonghuan (1584 AD—1630 AD) as the commander. He defeated Mandarin army a few times. They had to retreat. Then the mandarin sent some spies to the capital of the Ming Dynasty to spread rumor that Yuan Chonghuan was having a peace talk with the Mandarin. The desire of the emperor was to drive the Mandarin back to where they came. So peace negotiation was against the wish of the emperor. Therefore, the emperor summoned Yuan Chonghuan back and put him to death sentence as betrayal.
Then he appointed Hong Chengchou (1593 AD—1665 AD) as the commander. He was a wise courtier and was the minister of the Military Ministry. When the Mandarin heard the removal of Yuan Chonghuan, they marched their army towards Shanhai Pass again. Hong Chengchou wanted to show that he was an able commander, but in the first battle, he was captured by the Mandarin army. He was brought to the presence of the Mandarin emperor Huangtaiji (1592 AD—1643 AD), who tried to persuade Hong to turn over to the Mandarin. However, at first, Hong Chengchou refused to betray his emperor. According to the history record, one night when Hong Chengchou was sleeping and woke up at midnight, he found a woman lying beside him. He sat up in astonishment and asked who she was. The woman said that she was the empress of Huangtaiji. The empress came to sleep with him. This was a great honor to him. He was moved and surrendered. It was said that he kowtowed only to the empress, not to the emperor, saying that he was the slave to her. The emperor did not care as long as he had surrendered to the Mandarin. Hong Chengchou offered then quite a few ideas how to conquer Ming Dynasty. After Hong Chengchou was captured, Emperor Chongzhen appointed Wu SanGui as the next commander.
Chen Yuanyuan lived in Kunshan town in Jiangsu province to the south of the Yangtze river. She was very beautiful and could sing and dance. She was a famous prostitute in that area. Many patrons came to hear her sing and watch her dance.
There at that time gathered large rebels, all of them were peasants, who were under the oppression of the corrupt officials. Their leader was Li Zicheng (1606 Ad—1645 AD). Li Zicheng led his huge army of rebels marching towards the capital Peking. Facing such situation of both threat from the Mandarin and from the rebels, the emperor felt so heavyhearted and melancholy that one of his imperial concubines Tian wanted to make him happy. She asked her father Tian Hong to find some beautiful girls. People thought at that time that all the beautiful girls were in the southern region to the Yangtze river. Tian Hong thereby traveled to the south. He visited brothel after brothel, and at last found Chen Yuanyuan in Kunshan town. He was struck by her beauty and took her back to the capital. He spent two hundred thousand taels of silver to get her. He presented the girl to the emperor, but the emperor was not in the mood to hear her sing and watch her dance. Tian Hong had to take the girl back to his own residence.
Commander Wu SanGui went with his army to Shanhai Pass to resist the invasion of the Mandarin. He went through the capital and Tian Hong entertained him with the intention that Wu would specially protect his family and his fortune. He let the girl out to dance for Wu SanGui, who, at the first sight, loved the girl very much. He said to Tian Hong that he would try his best to protect him if he gave the girl to him. Of course, Tian Hong complied. Wu SanGui took the girl to his residence in the capital. When he left the capital for the frontier, he had to leave the girl in the capital.
The rebellious army led by Li Zicheng approached the capital. The emperor did not have enough troops to defend the city, and soon the rebels entered it. The emperor had to hang himself. That was the end of the Ming Dynasty. Li Zicheng occupied the palace and declare himself the emperor of the Dashun empire. One of his generals Liu Zongming killed all the family members of Wu SanGui and took the girl with him.
When Wu SanGui heard the news, he was greatly infuriated and vowed to revenge on the rebels. He knew that the forces he commanded was still no match to the great number of the rebellious army. So he wanted to ally with the Mandarin and used the allied force to fight the rebels. Thus, the Mandarin army entered the Shanhai Pass and then occupied the territory of Ming Dynasty. They founded their Qing Dynasty till overthrown by the Republic of China in 1911 AD.
The rebels escaped from the capital Peking. Wu SanGui chased them till he wiped out all the rebels. In pursuit of the beaten rebels, Wu SanGui came across Chen Yuanyuan. When Wu got back his girl, he marched into Yunnan province, which is in the far southwest corner of China. He made it his own territory. He was given the title of king and Yunan province as his fief by the emperor of Qing Dynasty. He accepted the title.
As time proceeded, Chen Yuanyuan grew old and Wu SanGui got some girls younger. Chen Yuanyuan went to live in a Buddhist nunnery for a quiet life.
Although We SanGui let in the Mandarin army, He did that just for his own purpose. He really did not like the Mandarin. He wished to be independent. So he declared that his fief in Yunnan province was an independent empire and did not obey the Qing Dynasty any more. He set Kunming city as his capital. The Qing government dispatched troops into Yunnan province to attack Wu SanGui and took the Kunming city. Wu SanGui was killed. Chen Yuanyuan was afraid to be captured by the Qing army and insulted. She drowned herself in the lotus pond outside the nunnery. She was buried by the side of the pond. In the nunnery there displayed two pictures of Chen Yuanyuan.
If Chen Yuanyuan never lived, or if Wu SanGui never knew her, Wu SanGui would not let in the Mandarin and Ming Dynasty might continue for longer time. Even if the rebels occupied the capital, the deceased emperor had some sons and one of the sons could gather troops from provinces and drove away the rebels from the capital and restore the Ming Dynasty. That's why people said that a whore changed the history of Ming Dynasty.

Concubine Xiang (09/15/1734—05/24/1788 AD) was a girl belonging to Uighur tribe in the present Xinjiang Autonomous District. In 1757 AD, some minorities in that area rebelled against Qing dynasty (1644—1911 AD.) At the time, Emperor Qianlong (09/25/1711—02/07/1799 AD) was on the throne and he sent army to quench the insurrection. Two brothers of concubine Xiang helped Qing army to subdue all rebels and the Qing emperor conferred duke titles to them. The brothers wanted to please the emperor and sent their sister to the emperor in return. The sister was twenty-seven at the time. Therefore, the sister became the concubine of the emperor. It was said that the body of the girl would radiate scent by birth. That was why she got the title of Concubine Xiang (literally meaning scent).
When she came into the palace, a litchi tree, transplanted in the palace, produced more than two hundred litchi fruit. It was deemed as good fortune that the girl brought. So everyone in the palace liked her, from the empress dowager to the maids in common. Let alone the emperor. Emperor Qianlong liked to travel to the south in the region of the Yangtze River because the scenery there was very beautiful. Every time he traveled, he would bring her with him. She was his favorite concubine. When the empress died, the emperor never had an empress any more. And Concubine Xiang acted as the first concubine in the palace. She was then already forty-eight. She died at the age of fifty-five.
A legend had a different anecdote for her. She was the wife of a muslin chieftain. When the chieftain rebelled and killed by Qing army, she was captured and sent to the emperor. But she refused to obey the emperor, and the empress dowager let her die. Her body was sent back to her homeland and was buried there. There is still her tomb in Xinjiang district, named Tomb of Concubine Xiang.

Empress Dowager Cixi (11/29/1835—11/15/1908 AD) was the last empress dowager in Qing dynasty, and also the last empress dowager in the Chinese history. After her death, Qing dynasty was soon overthrown by the first republic of China.
Her father was an official. And in 1852, she was selected to be sent to the palace. Young girls, when selected into palace, had two choices. Mostly they would be palace maids to do all kinds of services and a few, if the emperor liked them, would be appointed concubines. She was lucky and got the title of Concubine Lan at the age of eighteen. The emperor of that time was Emperor Xianfeng (1831—1861 AD). The empress did not bear any children for him. But Lan bore him a son, who was duly the crown prince. When the emperor died, the crown prince became Emperor Tongzhi (04/27/1856—01/12/1875 AD). She became empress dowager Cixi, and as a rule, the empress became the empress dowager, too, though the new emperor was not her son. She was empress dowager CiAn. They were more easily distinguished from each other by their living quarters. The former empress dwelt in the east, and was thereby called East Empress dowager. The former concubine dwelt in the west, and was thereby called West Empress Dowager. Since the new emperor was still a small boy and could not manage the state affairs, the two empress dowagers decided things for him.
The west empress dowager was ambitious, but she could not make any decisions alone. She was not satisfied. One day she sent some snacks to the east empress dowager, who ate it and died. It was said that the west empress dowager poisoned her. Then the west empress dowager had all the power in her hands. Unfortunately, her son, the new emperor, died young from chicken pox. As a rule, she should choose a close relative's son as her adoptive son and succeeded the throne. She chose the son of one of her brothers-in-law. This son was still a small boy and could not administrate the government. So the west empress dowager still made decisions for him. That was why she did not choose a grown-up son of the brothers-in-law. This new emperor was called Emperor Guangxu (08/14/1871—11/14/1908 AD).
Compared with sovereign empress Wu, who made the nation strong and prosperous, empress dowager Cixi ruled the nation badly. At the time Japan in the east always wanted to invade China. If she was a good ruler, she would strengthen the navy, but she used the funds for navy to build her summer palace. So in 1894, China's navy was defeated by that of Japan. In 1900 when the army of Eight-nation alliance occupied the capital Peking, she had to escape. Under her reign, Qing dynasty went to destruction.
Seeing this, Emperor Guangxu wanted to have reform like Japan. She and some old courtiers opposed the reform and coup d'etat took place. The emperor was confined and reformers were killed. China's hope was strangled in the cradle. The emperor died one day earlier than the death of empress dowager Cixi. It was said that the emperor was poisoned lest after her death, the emperor would refresh the reform.

Hong Xuanjiao (?--?) was a brave female fighter, commanding an army of all female soldiers, and was also the sister of Hong Xiuquan (1814—1864 AD), who was the Heavenly King of the Peace Kingdom (1851—1864 AD). At that time Qing dynasty was suffering a difficult time as Empress Dowager Cixi did not have the ability to administrate the country, but she held the power tightly in her hands.
Hong Xiuquan lived in Guangdong province in the southwestern China, far from the capital, so that Qing dynasty had loose control over that area. In 1843 AD, Hong Xiuquan founded a religion called God-Worshiping Church. The believers developed and in 1851 AD, they held up arms against Qing dynasty. They formed Peace Army and took city after city. They established Peace Kingdom and then they marched to Nanking city and occupied it. They made it their capital. The Heavenly King was the head of the kingdom. There were other kings, such as East King, West King, South King, North King, Wing King, Loyalty King, etc. They were the other leaders of the Peace Army.
The sister later married the West King. After they set Nanking city as their capital, the kings started to fight among themselves for more power and benefits. First the sister made a plot to kill the East King. Then North King killed the family of the Wing King, who escaped to Sichuan province. The Heavenly King killed the North King. Therefore, the Peace Kingdom grew weaker and was finally conquered by Qing Army and Nanking city was taken. The Heavenly King made suicide.
The sister escaped in disguise of an ordinary woman among the refugees. She then went to Shanghai. Finally she followed a priest and went to the United States. She stayed in San Francisco and lived as a herb doctor in Chinatown there.

66. Fu Caiyun 傅彩雲(賽金花) (a whore having been in foreign states and speaking their languages)

Fu Caiyun (1872—1936 AD) was nicknamed Sai Jinhua (literally meaning surpassing golden flower). When a little girl, she was sold to a whorehouse in Suzhou city. In 1887 AD, she was taken by a high official Hong Jun (1839—1893 AD) as his concubine at the age of fifteen while Hong was forty-eight. Next year, Hong Jun was sent to Russia, Austria, Germany and Holland as an envoy of Qing dynasty. She went with him as his Ladyship because his wife did not like to live in foreign countries. She lived in Berlin for a few years. She had been to St. Petersburg and Geneva. So she had known some German officers.
When her husband died, the family did not welcome her as she had been a whore. She had to leave and become a whore again for her living. At first she went to Shanghai, and later she went to live in Tianjin city, close to Peking. When she was a whore, she was known by her nickname, Sai Jinhua.
In 1900 AD, when the allied forces came to Peking, she was living there and had some good relationship with some German officers. It was said that she was familiar with Alfred Graf von Waldersee, the commander of the German troops. She had even tried to dissuade him from burning the Yuanming Garden. In 1903 AD, a young whore was ill-treated to death by her, and so she was arrested. Then she was sent in custody to her hometown, Suzhou city, for the service. When she was released from jail, she went to live in Shanghai. Afterwards, she moved to Peking and led a poor life till she died of severe disease there in 1936 AD.

Qiu Jin (1875—1907 AD) was born in Amoy in Fujian province. She learned kungfu when a little girl and admired Hua Mulan and Qin Laingyu (see above). She liked to dress in man's apparel. She called herself “Swords Woman of Mirror Lake,” which lake was in her homeland.
In 1896 AD, she was married to Wang Tingjun (1879—1909 AD), who ran a pawn shop in Xiangtan town. Qiu Jin moved to live with her husband there. In 1900 AD, Wang was assigned an official position in Peking and the couple went to live in Peking. She bore two children for him.
In 1903 AD, she went to Japan to learn Japanese language at first. During her stay in Japan, she took part in the revolutionary activities with Chinese students there. In July of 1905 AD, she joined Sun Yat-sen's alliance, a revolutionary league against Qing dynasty, and was assigned to be in charge of the revolutionary activities in Zhejiang province. When she returned next year, she became a teacher in Shanghai.
She planned to publish a newspaper named “Chinese Women.” She needed financial aid. She went back to her husband's family and got a large sum of money for that purpose. She set her heart to wage the revolution, and so she asked to be divorced to her husband lest her action should affect her husband. Her desire of divorce was to protect her husband. If in the process of revolution, she was arrested, her husband had nothing to do with her action as they were openly divorced.
In autumn of 1905, two members of the League founded a normal school in Shaoxing town, really for military training. Qiu recruited six hundred members for the school. In January of 1907 AD, the first issue of the newspaper was published. She wrote articles for female rights and revolutionary ideas. She toured to towns not far from Shanghai for propaganda of revolution. In February that year, she became the school mistress. They planned to rise to arms on the sixth day of July, but the secret was leaked out. The uprising of her comrades in Anqing town of Anhui province failed. Someone betrayed her to Qing government while other comrades tried to persuade her to flee, but she rejected, saying that the victory of revolution must cost blood. She remained. On the fourteenth day of July, she was arrested in the school. In the prison she was tortured, but she confessed nothing. She only wrote, “Autumn wind and autumn rain saddens people.” It was because the first word in her name Qiu literally meant autumn. She was killed on the fifteenth day.
Her body was at first buried At Xiling Bridge on the West lake in Hangzhou city, but the local Qing government forced it to be moved. Therefore, in 1909 AD, her son moved her body to be buried at Mt. Zhao in Xiangtan town, where her husband's family lived. In 1912 AD, when the first republic was founded, her body was moved back to be interred again in the same place by the West Lake of Hangzhou city. She is admired by all Chinese people for her heroic deeds.

68. Xiao Fengxian 小鳳仙 (a whore who saved a general)
Xiao Fengxian (1900—1954 AD) was her nickname. Her real name was Zhu Xiaofeng. Her father was a business man and went bankrupt, and so she was sold to a brothel in Peking. She had an ability to know who was who. No disguise in her eyes.
It was said that she had known Cai E (12/18/1882—11/08/1916 AD), who was a general and the governor of Yunnan province. He came to Peking to see doctors. But he would go to some brothels when he was free. That was why he knew the girl.
At that time, Yuan Shikai (09/16/1895—06/06/1916 AD) wished to be the emperor and he detained Cai E, fearful of his opposition. Cai disagreed to Yuan's idea to restore China into an empire. Therefore, he wanted to be back to his domain so that he could take up arms against Yuan. He succeeded to steal out of Peking with the assistance of the girl. One night, the girl rode in her coach out to somewhere, and hid Cai in her coach in disguise. She sent Cai to Tianjing city, where Cai got on board a ship and escaped to Japan, then went back to his Yunnan province by way of Hong Kong.
As for the girl, she later married a brigade commander and did not bear any children for him. In 1949 AD, she remarried to a factory worker, who had a daughter of fourteen year old by his ex-wife. When he died, Fengxian lived with her step-daughter. In the early 1951 AD, she went to see the famous actor of Beijing opera, Mei Lanfang (10/22/1894—08/08/1961 AD), who admired Fengxian for her help of Cai E to escape. Under his influence, she was arranged to work in a nursery. In 1952, she suffered from Alzheimer's disease and died in 1954.

Pan Yuliang (06/14/1895—06/13/1977 AD) was a famous paintress and sculptress. In 1917, she went to Shanghai to learn how to paint. Next year, she was enrolled in Shanghai Fine Arts School. In 1921, she went to France and was enrolled in Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts – ENSBA in Lyon. In 1923, she entered Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. In 1925, she went to Academy of Beaux-Arts of Rome in Italy. She finished an oil painting titled “White Mums,” which was later displayed in the gallery of Education Bureau in Nanking city.
In 1926, she began to learn sculpture. Meantime, she completed two oil paintings. They were “Fruits” and “Ruins of Rome.” Her art works were always chosen to be shown in the international exhibition in Italy. Her oil painting “★违反论坛条例！★” had won the gold medal in the above exhibition.
In 1928, she returned to China and at the end of this year, she held her personal art gallery. Next year, she was appointed the director of the Western Painting Department of Shanghai Fine Arts School. In 1930, she became a professor in Central University (the present Nanking University), and at the same time, she founded the graduate arts school in Shanghai. Then she opened an exhibition in Tokyo in Japan. In 1931, she helped to organize the Chinese Arts Society.
In 1934, Shanghai Zhonghua Book Company published the “Collection of Oil Paintings of Pan Yuliang.” In 1937, she went to Paris again for the International Art Exposition. In 1940, when Paris was occupied by Germany, she moved to dwell in the suburb and sold paintings for a living. She resided in France ever since till her death in 1977.

Soong Qingling (01/27/1893—05/29/1981 AD) was the second wife of Sun Yat-sen (11/12/1866—03/12/1925 AD), who founded a revolutionary league. Her father was a priest as well as a business man, and also a friend and comrade of Sun Yat-sen. Hers was a rich family. She had two sisters and three brothers. Her younger sister was well-known to the world. (see next episode.)
She got her education at McTyeire School in Shanghai. After graduation, in 1907, at the age of fourteen, she went to USA to study at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her English name was Rosamond. She got bachelor's degree of literature. In 1913, she returned to China. However, in 1915, she went to Japan and met Sun Yat-sen there. She became his assistant in his revolutionary career. On the twenty-fifth of October, that year, she married him in spite of her father's opposition. She followed his footsteps ever since until he died of cancer in 1925.
In August of 1927, she went to Soviet Union and then to Europe for four years. She read works of Karl Marx and studied the core problems of the first socialist country and some big capitalist countries. In the Sino-Japanese was, she tended to the Communist Party of China. Therefore, in 1949 when CPC established their republic, she was appointed the vice chairman of the republic. In 1950, she was elected the member of World Council of Peace. In 1952, she was selected the chairwoman of Liaison Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
In September of 1954, she was made the vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the First National People's Congress. On the seventh of April in 1959, in the first session of the National People's Congress, she was chosen to be the vice chairwoman of the People's Republic of China. In January of 1965, she was once more made the vice chairwoman of the People's Republic of China. In January of 1975, she was again made the vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the First National People's Congress. In February of 1978, she was given that position again. On the thirtieth of August in 1980, she was the executive chairman on the third session of the Fifth National People's Congress. On the fourteenth of May in 1981, her liver cancer and other disease worsened. On the fifteenth, the central political bureau declared that she was the member of CPC. And on the sixteenth, she was given the title of honorary chairwoman of the People's Republic of China. She died on the twenty-ninth in Beijing.
It was said that besides English, she knew French, German, Russian, Italian and Greek. She could play piano well. She liked classical music of Europe. She could cook good dishes and could paint and embroider. She was all talented.

Soong May-ling (03/05/1897—10/24/2003 AD) was born in Shanghai and was the third wife of Chiang Kai-shek (10/31/1887—04/05/1975 AD), who was the chairman of the Republic of China. She was then the first lady of the Republic of China.
In 1903, she was educated in McTyeire School in Shanghai. In 1908, at the age of eleven, she went with her sister Rosamond to USA to study in South Piedmont Community College and in 1912, she went to study in Wellesley College, MA. In 1917, she returned to Shanghai to work for a church and took part in all sorts of social activities. It was said that she had a secret engagement with a friend of her elder brother.
In 1922, she met Chiang Kai-shek in Shanghai. Chiang started to suit her. But her family opposed it, because Chiang was married and believed in Buddhism. If he wanted to marry the girl, he must first divorce his wife and commence to change his belief in church. So he agreed to the conditions. Therefore, on the first of December in 1927, they got married. In 1930, Chiang had the ceremony in a Baptist Church in Shanghai.
In 1928, she became the mistress of the school for the young family members of dead soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army. In 1932, she was the general secretary of Aviation Committee of China. In 1934, Soong and Chiang waged the New Life Movement, to promote drinking boiled water instead tea and coffee, learning to read and write instead of illiteracy, having habit of hygiene instead of spitting phlegm everywhere.
On the twelfth of December in 1936, Chiang was detained in XiAn city by two generals he sent to attack the army of CPC. At the same time, Soong was in Shanghai, being not well. When the news came, she immediately went to Nanking city, the capital of Chiang's government. She talked to other government leaders and emphasized on the importance of solving the dispute peacefully. On the fifteenth of December, she flew to XiAn city to negotiate with the two generals and Zhou Enlai, the representative of CPC. Finally they reached an agreement and Chiang was released and came back to Nanking city in company of Soong on the twenty-fifth.
In 1937, the Sino-Japanese war broke out. Chiang appointed Soong in charge of the air force. She then invited American general Claire Lee Chennault (09/06/1893—07/27/1958 AD) to China to form the “Flying tigers,” the nickname of Chinese air force. Soong was thereby nicknamed “Mother of the Air force of China.” In 1938, Times magazine published in USA put Chiang and Soong as cover figures. In February of 1943, to gain the help of America, Soong went to USA as Chinag's envoy and was received by the first lady of President Roosevelt and stayed in the White House for eleven days. On the twenty-eighth of February, she made a speech in US Congress. It was the first Chinese woman speaking in the US Congress. Then she toured to other cities to speak to American people for support. Statistics showed that almost 250,000 Americans had listened to her speeches. It was just after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor.
In November of 1934, when Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang had a conference in Cairo, she went with Chiang as his interpreter since Chinag could not understand and speak English. In 1945, she lived in Chongqing city, which was the temporary capital of China at the war time since the real capital was then occupied by the Japanese army. She squeezed out time to write a novel titled Past Events Have Vanished Like Smoke.
In October of 1946, Soong and Chiang first visited Taiwan. Then they moved to Taiwan when CPC occupied the mainland. In the sixties, she developed hospitals in Taibei city. In 1975, when Chinag died, she went to live in USA. On the twenty-ninth of May in 1981, when her second sister, Rosamond, died in Beijing, the embassy of China in Washington DC told her the sad news and hoped that she could go to Beijing to attend the funeral, but after the second thought, she declined.
In 1986, she went back to Taiwan to attend the 100 anniversary of Chiang's birthday and made a speech, “I wish that the light of the Three People's Principles will shine over the mainland.” In 1991, she left Taiwan for the United States again, and never returned to Taiwan ever since. In 1994, she moved to live in New York city. In 1995, it was fiftieth anniversary of the end of the second world war. She was invited to attend the ceremony held for her in Congress for her great tributes in the second world war. She died on the twenty-third of October in 2003 at the age of one hundred and six in New YorkCity.

Kawashima Yoshiko (05/23/1907—03/25/1948 AD) was the fourteenth daughter of a Mandarin prince.Her Chinese name was 金璧輝. When the Qing dynasty was overthrown, the father gave this daughter to his friend, a Japanese called Kawashima Naniwa in the hope that this Japanese friend could train her as a best spy for the restoration of his collapsed dynasty. Therefore, in 1912, at the age of seven, the girl went to Japan with the Japanese man as her adoptive father for strict training. She was then changed her Chinese name Jin Bihui to a Japanese name: Kawashima Yoshiko.
Several years later, Kawashima Yoshiko was all Japanese. Then she was sent to Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu—a female high school. When she grew up, she cut her hair short like a boy and liked male sports such as horse-riding, fencing, shooting and judo. She began to wear boy's clothes.
She started her spy career in 1927 at the age of twenty-one. She returned to the Northeastern China, and in Port Arthur, she married a Mongolian, but in 1931, she eloped with the Japanese secret service chief to Shanghai. Then she secretly took part in the September 18th Incidents, which was that the Japanese army in northeastern China first framed Chinese army for the destroy of Japanese railroad there and then attacked and occupied Shengyang city, and afterwards, took all the region of the northeastern China, including all three provinces.
She also participated in January 28th Incidents, which was that in 1931 right after the September 18th Incidents, Japanese army started to attack Shanghai and drove the Chinese guarding army out of the area. In 1932, she helped to established the so-called Manchukuo, a puppet government in the northeastern China and put on the throne a puppet emperor Peter, who had been the last emperor of Qing dynasty.
Her purpose was to restore the Qing dynasty, but now as she understood that the Manchukuo was only a puppet government of Japan, not the restoration the Qing dynasty, she was disappointed and used the power in her hands to release some Chinese people arrested by Japanese army. So she was deemed by the Japanese army as a dangerous person. In 1934, she was sent back to Japan in confinement. Anyway, she escaped back to China and opened a restaurant in Tianjin city.
In October of 1945 when Japan surrendered, she was arrested by the Chinese government and had the death verdict on twenty-second of October in 1945, and was executed on the twenty-fifth of March in 1948 in the First Prison in Peking at the age of forth-two.

Zhao Yidi (05/28/1912—06/22/2000) was born in Hong Kong. She was at first the mistress of general Zhang Xueliang (06/03/1901—10/15/2001 AD), commanding the army in the northeastern China, and then became his wife.
In 1928, she went to Tianjin city to attend the Northeast University and got acquainted with general Zhang. Thus she became his secretary as well as his mistress. As Zhang had wife, she could not become his wife. But she followed him everywhere ever since.
After the XiAn Incident on the twelfth of December in 1936, when he and another general were detained by Chiang Kai-shek, he was confined ever since and the girl accompanied him in his confinement for as long as seventy-two years. When Chiang escaped to Taiwan, he sent Zhang there too. And the girl ensued.
In 1940, Zhang's wife was diagnosed to have breast cancer and went to USA for treatment. In 1964, Zhang divorced her and married the girl as his second wife. She had a son with Zhang.

Jiang Zhujun (08/20/1920—11/14/1949) was nicknamed Sister Jiang. She was born in Zigong town of Sichuan province. When she was eight years old, her mother left her idle father, taking her and her brother to Chongqing city, where her uncle lived. At the age of ten, she entered a sock factory and worked as child labor. Since her stature was shorter than the machine, the owner of the factory specially had a high stool made for her. Next year, she was sent to an orphanage run by a church. She then worked part time and studied part time.
In 1939, she joined the Communist Party of China. In 1945, she was married to Peng Yongwu (1915—1948), who was a local party secretary. After the marriage, she worked for the newspaper published by CPC. In the winter of 1947, she was sent to Xiachuandong area to help Peng to organize the armed force. She was a liaison person. In 1948, her husband Peng died in a riot against the KMD government. She then succeeded his position and continued the revolution. On the fourteenth day of June in the same year, she was arrested owing to the betrayal of a comrade. She was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Chongqing city. She was of course tormented, but she refused to give any information of the Party's work. On the fourteenth day of November, 1949, she was executed at the age of twenty-eight. She had a son with Peng, and his name is Peng Yun, who now lives in USA.

Liu Hulan (10/08/1932—01/12/1947) was born in a peasant's family in Yunzhouxi Village in the district of Wenshui town in Shanxi province. The village was now renamed as Liu Hulan Village. At that time that village was under the control of CPC. At eight years old, she went to a primary school there and accepted the Party's education. At ten, she joined scouts. In October of 1945, she took part in the “Female Cadre Training Class” for a month. When she was back, she became the secretary of the women's national salvation society. In May of 1946, she was promoted to be a female cadre in the fifth district. In June, she joined the Party.
In the autumn of 1946, KMD army came to Wenshui town, and all the party's cadres escaped to the military base in Luuliang Mountains. The Party leaders thought that she was too young to cause the attention of the enemy, and so she stayed. On the twenty-first day of December of the same year, the communist militia came to kill the village leader, who had rejected to cooperate with CPC. Liu Hulan participated in the action. At the time, places often changed hands between CPC and KMD. Then KMD army came to arrest local militiamen, CPC soldiers and family members of CPC caders, six in all. Then Liu Hulan was betrayed and arrested, too, making the number seven. On the twelfth day of January, 1947, KMD army called all the villagers gathering on a square before a temple there. As Liu Hulan was the youngest, the MKD company leading officer said to her that if she could declare openly to betray CPC, she could be spared. She said never. Then the other six adult prisoners were killed one by one on a hand hay cutter. At last the girl was brought forward and asked the question again. As she would not yield, she was also killed in the same way at the age of fourteen. She was the youngest Party member.

Yan Shanshan (1896—1952 ) was the first female ★违反论坛条例！★ star in China and also a member of the female bomb squadron during the revolution against Qing dynasty in 1911.
When she was in Hong Kong Yide Normal School, she got acquainted with Li Minwei (1893—1953) and on 1931 she was married to him. Then she and her husband founded the Hong Kong Meihua film Company, and in 1914, they made the ★违反论坛条例！★ called Zhuang Zi Tests his Wife. Zhuang Zi (369—286 BD) was an ancient scholar, who had a book collecting his articles. There was a story about how he tested the faithfulness of his wife to him. Once he feigned to be dead ad buried in a grave. Before his death, he told his wife that she could remarry if the earth on his grave was dry. Then his wife stayed by the side of his grave and fanned the earth in the hope that the earth would be dry faster than normally.
In this ★违反论坛条例！★ she played the role of a maid of the wife, and her husband acted the wife. All the female roles in the ★违反论坛条例！★ before were played by males in disguise. That was why she was deemed the first female ★违反论坛条例！★ star. Afterwards, she joined Shanghai Xinmin Film Company and starred in Goddess of Peace (1926), Five Revengeful Girls in 1928, and Reviving Romance in the same year. She gave up acting in that year.
Yan Shanshan was never a jealous woman. On the contrary, when in 1919, she met Lin Chuchu (1904—1979), another actress, she voluntarily introduced her to her husband and let her be another wife of Li Minwei. Li and Lin had formal wedding ceremony on the seventh of January in 1919. In old China it was lawful to have two wives at the same time. Both wives had the equal status in the family. In 1924, Li and Lin starred the ★违反论坛条例！★ Rouge as the male and female main characters. So Lin became a ★违反论坛条例！★ star, too. Yan died in 1952 at the age of fifty-six.

Wang Hanlun (1903—08/17/1978) was one of the earliest female ★违反论坛条例！★ stars in China. She was born in a big official family in Suzhou city. Then they moved to live in Shanghai. She was early educated in St. Mary's Hall, a female school run by the church in Shanghai. After the death of her father, at the age of sixteen, her brother forced to discontinue her schooling and arranged for her to marry an official, who had the adultery with a Japanese woman not long afterwards and deserted her. She had to teach in a primary school in Hongkou district of Shanghai for her living. Then she worked as a clerk in British-American Tobacco Co. (hk) Ltd., and then as a typist in Siming Foreign Firm, where she knew a female colleague, who was also a shareholder of Mingxing film company. As the colleague knew that she liked filming, the colleague took her one day to see the conductor, who was just looking for a female star for his ★违反论坛条例！★. He told her to perform some actions and make some expressions on the face like smiling, angry, sad and happy. He thought that she was okay to be a star and signed a contract with her. Thus, she began her acting career.
Therefore, she resigned from her typist job. When her brother learned it, he was angry and wanted to send her back to their hometown Suzhou to punish her by family rules. In old families in that time, there were family rules to punish their sons and daughters who had done something against the rules or even the will of elders. But it was republic now. So Wang Hanlun declared to stop her relationship with the family so that they could not punish her by the family rules.
Her original name was Peng Jianqing. Now as she severed herself from her family, she changed her name to Wang Hanlun. The self-given name was really taken from Helen by sound, but in Chinese characters. So you can pronounce Hanlun as Helen.
The Mingxing Film Company was founded in 1922. The ★违反论坛条例！★ Wang had a role in it was called An Orphan Rescues His Grandpa. The ★违反论坛条例！★ was on in 1924 to the warm applause of the public. She then acted in other three successive movies. She became so well-known to the public that another film company, Changcheng Film Company, came to ask her to work for them and pay her more. She then transferred to that company. For this company, she filmed Deserted Woman and others. But this company did not pay her more, and her complaints came of no avail. She went to work for another company, Tianyi Film Company. As all the film companies paid her not to her satisfaction, she founded a film company of her own called “Hanlun Film Company.” She acted in a ★违反论坛条例！★ named Blind Love. All her movies had a tragic end. So she was nicknamed “first tragic star on the screen.” During the recess, she would go on the stage to greet her audience, which got her a lot of fans.
In 1931, she gave up filming and changed her aim to business. She opened a beauty shop in Shanghai. She was one of the first women who studied the beauty culture in China. When Shanghai was occupied by Japanese army, she had to close the shop. When the Japanese wanted her to work for them, she refused on the pretense that she was sick. So she lived in a poor condition by selling her belongings. In 1945 when Japan surrendered, she wanted to resume her acting. But as she went to a filming company, the owner rejected her, implying that she was too old. She was then in her forties.
In 1950 when CPC took reign over the mainland, the Kunlun ★违反论坛条例！★ Company invited her to the role of Empress Dowager Cixi in the ★违反论坛条例！★ Legend of Wuxun. When Shanghai Film Factory was founded, she was given a job there and got salary as a clerk of something. But she was still assigned some side roles. When the Cultural Revolution began, though she was retired, the red guards came to her home and took away all the old films she kept for so long. She died of disease on the seventeenth of August in 1978 in the hospital.

Zhang Zhiyun (1904—1975) was the first ★违反论坛条例！★ queen in China. She was born in Fanyu town of Guangdong province and in childhood, moved to Shanghai with her family. When her father died, her family fell into financial difficulties. Therefore, she had to cease her education in the middle school.
At the beginning of 1924, Dazhonghua Film Company was founded and they put an advertisement on the newspaper, “Actresses wanted.” The application letters with a photo must be sent to the newspaper's mail box. Ten days later, they received about ten thousand female photos, but none of them were suitable. Then they found that a reporter working there secretly opened all letters and hid whatever photos he liked. After negotiation, he returned ten photos. Zhang's photo was one of them.
She was chosen and acted in two silent films, successfully. In 1925 she went to work for Mingxing Film Company. In 1926, the newspaper held an activity to vote for ★违反论坛条例！★ queen. Twelve actresses joined in it. Zhang was the first by getting 2146 votes. So she was the first ★违反论坛条例！★ queen in China.
She then participated in parties of the upper social circle and became to know Tang Jishan, a tea salesman. In 1927, she gave up her filming and went with him to America to sell tea. Tang just wanted to use her title of ★违反论坛条例！★ queen as his spokeswoman to advertise his products. But he did not know that American people never heard of the ★违反论坛条例！★ queen in China. So he failed and had to take her back to China. In 1931, he deserted Zhang and lived together with another ★违反论坛条例！★ star.
Then came the ages of sound film. As she could not speak mandarin, she had seldom any contracts. In 1933, she tried to act in a sound film and in 1935, in another sound film called New Peach Fan. But the audience did not acknowledge her success. She had to retire from filming circle again. In forties she got married and in fifties, she moved to live in Hong Kong till she died there.

79. Xuan Jinglin 宣景琳 (first actress with a private car and showing her bare legs to the public in China)

Xuan Jinglin (1904—01/22/1992) was born in Shanghai. Her father was a newspaper vendor. She went to the school run by Moore Memorial Church in Shanghai for free. As she could not stand the bully of the students coming from rich families, she gave up the schooling and went to learn Peking opera, because her uncle was the accountant in a theater, where Peking operas were performed. When her parents and elder brother fell sick, she was sold to a brothel for money for her family when she was still young. In the brothel she met a young man, who loved her, but his parents would not let him marry a prostitute.
Therefore, she started to save money her patrons gave her as gifts to redeem herself from the brothel. The bawd found it and took all her saved money away. She could do nothing about it. A poor young girl. By chance, she was found by the conductor of Mingxing Film Company. They had a new screenplay called Last Consciousness. The girl was fit for the role. They could not find other girls fit for it. Therefore, the company paid the money to the bawd for her redemption. She became a ★违反论坛条例！★ actress. That was in 1923. This ★违反论坛条例！★ was on in 1925.
Then she acted for the role of a whore in another ★违反论坛条例！★ called A Woman in Shanghai, which won her a great fame, as she acted from her won experience. She earned a lot of money and bought a car for herself. She was the first woman that had a car for her own use only. And she was also the first woman actress in China that showed her bare legs to the public.
The young man still loved the girl, especially she was now a famous ★违反论坛条例！★ star. Yet his parents rejected their marriage owing to the girl's whore background. Therefore, the conductor of the film company went to see the parents and persuaded them to accept the girl. Although the parents agreed to their marriage, they had some conditions. Firstly, there was no wedding ceremony. Secondly, the girl could not live in the house of the parents. The new couple had to rent a separate house. But there were always rumors about ★违反论坛条例！★ stars. And the husband often suspected her of something. Finally they divorced.
She filmed thirty-five movies. Another ★违反论坛条例！★ was The lady's Fan in 1928. Then when she grew old and there appeared more younger female actresses, she gradually faded from the screen. When CPC ruled over the mainland, Shanghai Film Factory was founded, and she was invited to act in the ★违反论坛条例！★ Family in 1956. She died in 1992 at the age of eighty-eight.

Hu Die (03/23/1908—04/23/1989) was born in Shanghai and when she was nine, the family moved to Canton. She went to Pooi To Middle School. In 1924, when she was sixteen, the family moved back to Shanghai. That year, the ★违反论坛条例！★ An Orphan Rescues His Grandpa was on. It touched audience, including the young Hu Die. So she set her heart on being an actress. She signed up as a candidate in Shanghai China Film School, which was the first such a school in China. She learned drama, film theory, and performing. She liked performing, and next year she was given a role in Exploits, which was her first ★违反论坛条例！★.
She acted in more than twenty movies with different film companies. Her master piece was Twin sisters. She acted both sisters with different life experience, characters, and social status. It was so successful that it got the highest seat occupancy rate at the time.
When September 18th Incidents took place, a misfortune befell Hu Die. At the time she went with the filming crew to Peking. Coincidentally, the general Zhang Xueliang (see above) was also in Peking. That time, people in northeastern China were furious against the Japanese invaders. To transfer the anger of the Chinese people from Japanese to someone else, Japanese news agency spread a rumor that on the night of the incidents, Zhang was dancing with Hu Die. According to logic, Zhang should be fighting the invaders right on the night as northeastern China was his defending area. The rumor meant that Zhang neglected his duties. So people turned against Zhang and against Hu Die, too. Although she made a declaration openly on newspapers, there were still doubts.
On the New Year's Day of 1933, for the development of the filming business, the Daily Star of Shanghai proposed an activity to vote for female star queen again. Hu Die won the title by getting 21334 votes. She won another star queen title in 1934. In 1935, Russia held an international film festival in Moscow, Hu die was invited to attend. She was the only female ★违反论坛条例！★ star that was invited.
In November of 1937, when Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese army, they took over the film company. So no film was made anymore. As the husband of Hu Die was in Hong Kong, she went there to join her husband. On the twenty-fifth of December in 1941, Japanese army occupied Hong Kong. In order to gain the support of Hong Kong people, especially of some famous people there, the Japanese asked Hu Die to act in the film Hu Die travels in Tokyo. However, Hu Die declined on the pretense that she was pregnant. On the twenty-fourth of November in 1942, Hu Die stole out of Hong Kong and went to Chongqing city, the temporary capital of the Chinese government at the time.
Soon she was under the control of Dai Li (05/28/1897—03/17/1946), the chief of the bureau of investigation and statistics of the military council of KMD. Dai always adored the beautiful ★违反论坛条例！★ star and wanted her to be his mistress. He even wanted to marry her. But he had an air crash in 1946. So she was free from him and went back to Hong Kong. She began to act in several films. In 1949, her husband died. Then she stopped filming for ten long years. In 1959, she recommenced to act in several films in Hong Kong or Taiwan. In 1960, on the Seventh Asian Film Festival held in Japan, she won the award of the best actress in the ★违反论坛条例！★ called Back door. She got the title of Asian star queen at the age of fifty-two. In 1966, she retired from the screen and lived in Taiwan. In 1975, she immigrated to Vancouver in Canada, and died there in 1989. Her last words were, “The butterfly will fly away.” The pronunciation of her name Hu Die literally meant Butterfly.